2013 Audi Q5 Hybrid To Be Pricey 'Performance Hybrid'?

On sale in Europe for a year now, the hybrid Q5 was originally launched at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. Technical details had emerged even before that.

Now a report in Automobile magazine suggests that the 2013 Audi Q5 Hybrid will be priced at the very high end of the Q5 range, positioned as a "performance hybrid" rather than an out-and-out fuel efficiency champ.

That's similar to the way its larger siblings in the VW Group--the Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid and Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid--are positioned. The low-volume, now-discontinued BMW ActiveHybrid X6 also fit that niche.

Automobile suggests that the Q5 Hybrid will come in above $50,000, which would put it within $10,000 of the larger hybrid SUV from Volkswagen. It quotes an Audi spokesman as saying that the hybrid crossover will come solely in the top-end Prestige trim level.

The Q5 Hybrid is the first model to pair the VW Group single-motor hybrid system with a 211-hp, 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. Audi gave details on its most technically advanced crossover earlier this year.

The 40-kilowatt (54-hp) electric motor sits between the turbo four and the group's eight-speed automatic transmission, and Quattro all-wheel drive is standard.